


Something Like Friends

by mikkimouse



Series: Valentine's Extravaganza III [10]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Bathing/Washing, F/F, Hair Washing, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Relationship, Sick Allison, Sick Character, Trope Bingo Round 14, can you tell I was recovering from a nasty cold when I wrote this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22658659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: Allison is sick. Erica is taking care of her. Erica is really, really not examining her reasons for doing so.
Relationships: Allison Argent/Erica Reyes
Series: Valentine's Extravaganza III [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619959
Comments: 11
Kudos: 41
Collections: Trope Bingo: Round Fourteen





	Something Like Friends

**Author's Note:**

> This fits my square for Rare Pairs on my [Trope Bingo board!](https://mad-madam-m.dreamwidth.org/17415.html)

Erica walked up the front steps to Allison's house with the container full of soup, doing her best to ignore her nerves about it. She didn't know why she was here, basically waltzing into a hunter's den, although it probably had something to do with Derek's speech about how a pack took care of each other, especially when the human members were sick. 

So obviously, Erica needed to make her favorite chicken tortilla soup, the same one her mother had made every time Erica had gotten sick before her werewolf upgrade, and take it over. Especially since both Scott and Isaac were still at college two states over. Otherwise, she was pretty sure _they'd_ both be over here, hopping to their feet every time Allison so much as coughed. 

But since they weren't here, Erica could be. _Had_ to be. Had. She was the only pack werewolf still in town, aside from Derek, so she was the only one who wasn't going to get whatever nasty bug had kept Allison at home for the past three days. 

Chris Argent answered the door, and Erica saw the weird combination of surprise, regret, and resignation flash across his face. He _was_ still a hunter at heart, and even if he'd mostly accepted Allison's shift from hunting to protection, it seemed like it gave him _so this is my life now_ moments every now and again. 

Erica gave him an extremely toothy smile in response. "I brought soup for Allison." 

He sighed and stepped aside to let her in. "She's upstairs. You have good timing. I need to head out for a meeting. Do you mind staying here until I get back? It'll only be an hour, maybe two. Just so she's not alone." 

Erica froze. She had thought she'd just drop the soup off, maybe poke some fun at Allison's three-day bedhead, and run. 

Chris's face fell. "Sorry. I know you're probably busy." 

"No," Erica blurted out. "No, I can stay. Sure." 

He looked overly relieved. "Thank you. Sorry. I know you're all adults now, but..." 

Erica waved it off. He didn't need to explain. "It's no problem."

She took the soup upstairs and found Allison in her bedroom. Well, she found a lump of covers on Allison's bed. She assumed Allison was under it.

"Allison," she singsonged. "Where are you?" 

The bundle on the bed slouched to one side, and a wildly tangled head of dark hair slowly appeared from under one of the blankets. "Erica?" Allison croaked. 

Holy shit, she sounded _awful_. And, honestly, looked worse. "Jeez." Erica crossed the room and set the soup on the bedside table, which was covered in used tissues, cough drop wrappers, and empty glasses. "You sound like someone's been scraping your throat with a rake." 

"Feels like it." Allison scrubbed a hand over her face. She was a lot paler than usual. "What day is it?" 

"Thursday." 

Allison dropped her hand and stared at her. "Seriously? I thought it was Tuesday." 

"Shit, you are in bad shape." Erica picked the soup up. "I brought you some chicken tortilla soup. You want any?" 

Allison shook her head. "I don't think I can do soup right now." 

Erica set it aside. Okay, it stung a little that she'd guessed wrong, but Allison looked _really_ , really bad. It wasn't personal. "I'll put it in the fridge for later, then. How about some water?" 

A pause, and then Allison nodded minutely. "Where's Dad? Did I hear him leave?" 

"He had a meeting to go to," Erica said as she headed for the door. "He'll be back in an hour. Don't worry, I told him I'd hang around if you needed anything." 

She went back downstairs, stuck her soup in the fridge, and filled a glass of water. She brought it back up to Allison and then started picking up the room, throwing away the mountains of tissues and taking glasses and bowls back downstairs. Allison sat curled up against her headboard, sipping water, watching Erica with feverish eyes. 

"You don't have to do this," she said after Erica's third trip down the stairs. 

"We're supposed to take care of our pack." Erica shoved a bunch of dirty clothes in the hamper. She'd probably need to run a load of laundry, too. "Guess what? That means you. And, you know," she tossed a grin over her shoulder, "it's impossible for you to get me sick." 

Allison just regarded Erica quietly and didn't say anything else. 

The room wasn't in _great_ shape when Erica was finished, but at least it was cleaner than it had been. Now, however, she was at a loss of what to do. And she needed to be doing _something_ , because just sitting here was not an option.

Allison pushed herself off her headboard. It looked like it took a lot of effort. "Will you help me wash my hair?" 

"Uh." When she'd been hoping for something to do, that wasn't what Erica had had in mind. _Damn_ whoever up there had a sense of humor. Asshole. "Sure. If you're up for it?" 

"I want a thirty-minute shower, but I can't stand up that long." Allison swayed. "But I feel so gross." 

"I could run you a bath," Erica said, and _no, mouth, why did you say that?!_ "That way you don't have to stand up and you can get clean." _Stop that! Stop offering that!_

Allison turned huge, hopeful eyes on her. "Really?" 

_No! No, not really!_ "Of course. I'll go get it running." 

Erica stopped in the hall long enough to smack her forehead with her palm several times. Stupid mouth. Stupid desire to _help_. But now she was stuck helping Allison with a bath and washing her hair and it was going to be very intimate and she was going to _die_. 

She started the bath running, got out a towel and a washcloth and bubble bath, and then went back to the bedroom to help Allison down the hall. 

Allison took two steps and stumbled like a baby fawn. 

Of course. Of course this was Erica's life. With another inward curse, she picked Allison up and carried her the rest of the way down the hall, with Allison's head resting on her shoulder. Whatever she'd done to deserve this, she regretted it _immensely._  
  
She helped Allison undress and got her into the tub, and Allison moaned as she sank into the water. "Oh God, that feels amazing." 

Erica cleared her throat. "Awesome. I'm going to grab you some clean clothes." 

She left the bathroom as quickly as she could, taking Allison's dirty things with her, and grabbed clean clothes on her way back. Should she go ahead and start a load of laundry? Maybe it would be good to start a load of laundry. Especially the bedsheets. 

No, Allison was exhausted and sick. She really needed someone to make sure she didn't drown in the tub. 

Erica took a few deep breaths. Okay. She could do this. She could help a member of her pack. A...well, she wasn't sure if she and Allison were really _friends_. But they weren't enemies anymore, and that was something. 

She walked back into the bathroom and found Allison slumped sideways in the tub, using the wall to keep herself propped mostly upright. "I hate being sick," Allison whispered. 

Erica knelt beside the tub. "I definitely don't miss it." She grabbed the washcloth. "Do you need help with this?" 

Allison shook her head, and Erica moved away to sit on the toilet and studied the floor tile while Allison washed herself off. 

"Sorry you're sick," Erica finally said, at a loss for anything else. 

"I'm better today than I was yesterday, at least," Allison said. She sounded a little less raspy. "Yesterday was _awful_. I don't remember most of it." 

Erica snorted. "If you thought today was still Tuesday, I'm not surprised. At least it sounds like you're on the mend?"

"I hope so. It's been like this for three days." Allison was quiet for a moment. "You know, you and Derek are the only ones who've come by." 

Erica turned, surprised. Although she probably shouldn't have been. "Derek came by?" 

She nodded. "On Monday. He brought a care package from him and Stiles." She laughed weakly. "He still looked like he was worried my dad would try to stab him." 

"Hey, for a while, that was a serious concern," Erica reminded her. 

Allison met her gaze. "Not for a long time now." 

God, Erica couldn't handle that. She looked away again. "No." 

The bathroom was silent for a few minutes, except for the sound of water lapping against the side of the tub. 

"Can you help me brush my hair and wash it?" Allison asked. 

Oh yeah, that was the entire reason they'd started this exercise in the first place. Erica cleared her throat and stood. "Sure. Where's your brush?" 

Allison gestured toward the counter. "Top drawer." 

Erica retrieved it and knelt by the tub again, and Allison shifted around so that her back was to Erica. Her hair looked like...well, like it hadn't been brushed or washed in three days. 

Erica drew her hands along the sides of Allison's face, pulling all her hair back, and then took a handful and started brushing the ends. It was slow going, and it was _so_ fucking tangled Erica seriously considered just flicking out her claws and cutting it off, but she kept at it. Allison would probably kill her if she just cut the tangles out, anyway. 

"That doesn't hurt, does it?" Erica asked after a few moments. 

"No, it's fine," Allison said. "I'm not really tender-headed." 

"That's good." Erica moved on to a new section of hair. "Because I've _never_ seen hair with this many knots. Were you wrestling badgers in your bed or something?" 

Allison laughed, her shoulders shaking. "Badgers? Where did that come from?" 

"Stiles," Erica said automatically. "It's probably his fault." 

"Probably," Allison agreed. "That sounds like him." 

"He told me to tell you he's sorry he can't come see you," Erica said. "But he's sure you're going to kick this sickness in the ass just like you do everything." 

"Well, tell him the action movies in the care package were appreciated," Allison said. "I texted him, but I have no idea if it actually made sense."

"I will." Erica paused for a minute. "You heard from Scott or Isaac?" 

"They texted me." Allison's shoulders hunched. "So has Lydia. She's really upset being a banshee doesn't do anything for her immune system." 

Interesting, that she glossed over discussing her two exes. Before Erica could think more about _that_ , Allison started coughing, and Erica jumped to her feet to grab her water. 

"You okay?" she asked as soon as the coughing fit had subsided. 

"Yeah." Allison's voice sounded raspy. "Thank you." 

Erica went back to brushing her hair. "No problem." 

She didn't ask any more questions after that; she just focused on getting all the tangles out of Allison's hair, brushing it until it was smooth. 

She got up and rummaged through the drawers and in the cabinets until she found a cup, and then turned on the tap to wash Allison's hair. 

Allison turned again so her hair wasn't hanging over the side of the tub, and now Erica could see her face, still pale but a lot more restful than it had been when she'd arrived. She poured the water over Allison's hair, working it through the dark strands, and then started in with the shampoo. 

"Why did you come?" Allison asked. 

Erica froze for a second, and then made herself go back to rubbing the shampoo in Allison's hair. "What do you mean?" 

"Why did you come here?" Allison opened one eye. "Why did you bring soup?" 

And nope, Erica didn't want to have that conversation with _herself_ , let alone with Allison. "Close your eyes, I'm washing the shampoo out."

Allison did, and Erica poured water over her hair until all the suds were gone. She knew why she'd come. She knew why she'd stayed. She just really, _really_ didn't want to admit it. 

"You're pack," Erica finally said aloud. That was close enough to the truth without _being_ the truth. "I told you that already. So I'm here. Helping out. You want conditioner?" 

Allison shook her head. "I think I need to go lie back down." 

Erica pulled the drain and helped Allison out of the tub, handing her a towel to get dried off and then the clean clothes. She dried Allison's hair with the towel as best she could, and then helped her back down the hall and got her settled in bed with the towel over her pillow. 

Allison sighed and sank into the pillow. "That feels so much better." 

"I bet. Three days in your own funk would make anyone feel awful." Erica glanced toward the door. "Do you want any of the soup?" 

"Not right now." Allison rubbed her face. "Probably just put something mindless on, I think. I haven't done anything but sleep and I'm still so _tired_." She looked up at Erica. "I thought you hated me." 

Erica raised her eyebrows. "You did?" 

Allison grimaced. "High school. There were...arrows." 

Erica sat on the bed beside her. "Ancient history. Besides, you've saved me more than once since then. I can forgive an arrow or two." She glanced sideways at Allison. "I thought you hated me." 

Allison shrugged. "It was dumb. I got over it." 

Huh. Something that felt suspiciously like hope bloomed in Erica's chest, and she squashed it. Not hating each other was a far cry from actually _liking_ each other. She pushed herself off the bed. "Well, I should probably let you get some sleep. I'll be downstairs if you need anything." 

"Would you stay?" Allison asked. "I've only seen my dad and Derek in three days. I'd...really like the company." 

The hope returned with a vengeance. Erica grabbed the remote and sat on the bed next to her. "Sure. What mindless thing do you want to watch, milady?" 

Allison smiled and leaned against Erica's shoulder. "Something really fluffy. But no food." 

Erica considered, and then flipped over to Netflix to search for Bob Ross. "Landscape painting and rescued wildlife sound good?" 

Allison closed her eyes. "Sounds fantastic." 

Five minutes into the first episode, Allison was sound asleep on Erica's arm. Erica watched her, listening to the steady beat of her heart and her deep, even breathing. It'd probably be pretty easy to tuck her into bed and head downstairs, let her get some real rest. Chris was probably going to be home soon, anyway. 

But Allison had asked her to stay. 

So that's what Erica did.

**Author's Note:**

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